• The film is nearly all acting. Geoffery Rush is superb, but so is Noah Taylor, Armin Mueller-Stahl and to a lesser degree Lynn Redgrave and John Gielgud.
  • It’s the film where Rush won best actor for about 35-40 minutes on screen. This has happened before but his performance here isn’t quite on the level of say Anthony Hopkins in silence of the lambs (less than 30 minutes of screen time I believe). For one Cruise should’ve won over him in jerry mcguire
  • It’s a detailed and nuanced character study and biopic but visually there’s very little to offer and there’s a reason to date this is the sole archiveable film for director Scott Hicks
  • It’s a very intelligent move to switch actors after the big performances and medical accident—similar to love and mercy these are two very different characters before and after—it works for sure
  • It’s about that border between genius and crazy. There’s another one here with Rush who is both more than a little grating at times and also can be very charming with his quick humor and groping a few females
  • Recommend but not in or near the top 10 of 1996—not in the archives at all without the superb acting and even then it’s a very fringy archiveable film